Ellen Gould White
    Back to Home   Back to Bible Study

Of all the pioneers whose life and work have had a permanent effect on the Advent people and the promotion of the Advent Movement, no one stands above Mrs. Ellen G. White in significance. Born in a family of eight children to Robert and Eunice Harmon at Gorham, Maine, November 26, 1827, Ellen was nurtured in an atmosphere of God-fearing devotion. Her parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and their witness was such that all eight children were converted and gathered into church communion.

While Ellen was but a child the family moved to Portland, Maine, and here most of her early life was spent. She had scarcely more than begun her schooling, when, at nine years of age, the painful accident happened that greatly affected her subsequent experience. On her way home with her twin sister from school one day, in company with schoolmates, she made some trivial remark at which an older girl became so resentful that she threw a stone that struck Ellen a terrible blow on the bridge of her nose. She was knocked unconscious and carried to a nearby store. On recovering consciousness she thought herself able to walk and graciously refused an offer of assistance from a sympathetic bystander who suggested that he take her home in his carriage. She collapsed on the way, however, and her sister, with the assistance of others had to carry her home.

For three weeks she lay in a semiconscious state, and her friends despaired of her life. Her mother's faith triumphed, however, for she felt, for some unexplainable reason, that the child would recover. Strangely enough, upon regaining full consciousness, Ellen could not remember the accident and was unaware of the cause of her illness. For many weeks she languished, until she was reduced to such frailty that she prayed God might prepare her for death. She became much exercised over her spiritual condition and sought above all things else the forgiveness of her sins. Peace came with her resignation to the Lord, and a spirit of love for all her friends and those who ministered to her took possession of her heart.

Ellen gained strength very slowly, and it seemed that her health would be permanently impaired. Not only was the injury to her nose disfiguring but it interfered with normal breathing. Her schooling for the next two years was rather sketchy. She found it difficult to retain what she had studied. She records in her diary that the girl who was the cause of her misfortune was appointed monitor in the school and became her assistant in writing and in other lessons. Typical of her tender, forgiving nature, Ellen records how patient and sorry this classmate was who had brought such a handicap upon her. It was not long before an uncontrollable shakiness possessed her while she was trying to do her lessons, and she was advised to leave school, the most depressing event of her young life.

When William Miller visited the community in 1840, Ellen went with friends to attend his lectures on the second coming of Christ. His exposition of the prophecies were so profound and convincing that the crowds were held spellbound. The idea that instead of a temporal millennium preceding His return to earth Christ was to come in 1843, as the prophecy of Daniel 8 was then interpreted, was a startling revelation. Ellen responded to the altar call at one of these meetings along with hundreds who were going forward. But though she made all these outward signs of consecration she confessed to a feeling of darkness and despair, fearing lest she should not be worthy of the love of God. Shortly after these Miller meetings she attended a Methodist camp meeting at Buxton, Maine, with her parents. Responding once more to an altar call, she gave herself with importunity to God, crying, "Help, Jesus, or I perish!" Her burden of heart suddenly lifted, and she became at peace and full of a strange new joy.

After the family had returned from camp meeting, Ellen was baptized, choosing to be immersed, as was the privilege of new converts in the Methodist Church in those days. She came forth from this service with a radiant experience, and joined the church. Hoping to resume her schooling, she attended for a brief time a ladies' seminary in Portland. But the precarious state of her health made her once more withdraw from any further attempts at formal education. Since she had fallen somewhat under the distracting influences of the seminary, her spiritual condition was at an unsatisfactory level, for she was sensitive to any failure in Christian attainment.

The Miller lectures at the Casco Street church in Portland caused greater excitement than his earlier appearances had. Opposition from the popular churches was now beginning to be felt, and many of the churches closed their doors against Miller and his doctrines. Yet crowds continued to follow him wherever he could get a hearing. Ellen records the courtesy and sympathy of the lecturer for the feeble and infirm, and tells of his sometimes leaving the pulpit to help some aged couple to a seat. His affectionate nature drew from his followers the appellation Father Miller. His meetings and appeals were never without a solemn seeking of God for mercy on the part of the attendants at the meetings.

Ellen Harmon was among these seekers for truth. But she became confused over certain doctrines that were not clear in her mind. She was exercised over such things as justification and sanctification and the punishment of the wicked. The wonderful love of God, which she was to expound so beautifully in her later, mature years, was obscured by the apprehension she felt over her spiritual unreadiness to meet Jesus should He come as the prophecies seemed to foretell He must, or to be ready for heaven should her life suddenly be cut off.

The story of Ellen Harmon's spiritual development occupies several pages in her own Life Sketches. She engaged in long, agonizing prayers over her condition, and God gave her two dreams that were so clear as to be unmistakable in their meaning. Confiding the secrets of her heart to her mother, she accepted her counsel to talk with Elder Stockman, then preaching the Advent doctrine in Portland. He kindly put his hand on her head and said, "Ellen, yours is a most singular experience for one of your tender years. God must be preparing you for some special work." Little did he know how prophetic his words would prove to be. At a prayer meeting shortly after that she raised her voice in public prayer after others had prayed, and the sorrow and agony that had so long burdened her soul was taken away in an experience of great joy in a sense of the presence of Christ. The experience was so marked that those about her were alarmed, thinking some physical indisposition had struck her. Since the meeting was at the home of her uncle, she stayed there the night, returning home next day. Faith now took possession of her heart, and she rejoiced in a peace and consciousness of God's love that was inexpressible. At subsequent meetings she related her new confidence and faith and many were converted by her testimony.

Ellen Harmon became intensely concerned about the spiritual condition of her young friends, and frequently would spend entire nights in prayer for them. That every one in this group for whom she so persistently and lovingly interceded should eventually accept Christ is not remarkable when we remember God's promises. Though older ones thought her too zealous and tried to hold her back, she felt there was so little time for the salvation of the lost that no time or effort should be spared to save them. Her intense fervor, however, soon brought feelings of disapproval on the part of those whose minds were so taken up with the cares of this life that they didn't want Jesus to come. Among many of them bitterness and opposition to Miller's teachings took the place of their former devotion.

The acceptance by the Harmon family of the Bible teachings on immortality and the state of the dead, along with a tenacious faith in the doctrine of the soon return of Christ, led at last to their dismissal from the Methodist Church. Their names were read publicly at a regular Sunday morning service, and although their characters were not detracted in any way and high approval was given of their moral conduct, they were dismissed on the vague charge of "departing from the rules of the church." It marked a turning point in many another family who followed the example of the Harmons and accepted separation from their brethren in order to keep faith with new-found Bible teachings.

The story of how Ellen Harmon and her family went through the disappointment of 1843-44 occupies a solemn chapter in her Life Sketches. Since the story of the Disappointment is told elsewhere in this book, it is omitted here.

After the passing of the time at which the Savior was expected to return, Ellen Harmon had a vision from the Lord, the first of many that were to be given her down through the years of her guidance of the church -- the church that arose out of the scattered remnants of the popular churches who had separated from their communions in order to be free to accept the doctrine of the second coming of Christ as they understood it from Daniel's prophecies. The vision concerned that special company which she saw who were sealed and united on the doctrines associated with the imminent return of the Savior. When she related this vision to the believers in Portland, they had full confidence that it was from God. They saw it as a comfort sent from heaven for those who had suffered such bitter disappointment when the appointed day came and the Lord did not come.

In her second vision God showed Ellen what trials she would pass through and what opposition she would meet as she witnessed for Christ in regard to His counsel for the church. It seemed incredible that God should choose her, a mere slip of a girl whose health was so frail that she was in constant physical suffering, to be His chosen messenger. Indeed, her burden of heart grew greater as she saw unbelief and incredulity on the faces of several who had been close to her in friendship. Father Pearson was one of these, and at a meeting in the Harmon house Pearson prayed for her, encouraging her to yield her will to the will of God.

The experience in this instance is best told in her own words: "While prayer was offered for me, that the Lord would give me strength and courage to bear the message, the thick darkness that had encompassed me rolled back, and a sudden light came upon me. Something that seemed to me like a ball of fire struck me right over the heart. My strength was taken away, and I fell to the floor. I seemed to be in the presence of the angels. One of these holy beings again repeated the words, 'Make known to others what I have revealed to you.

"Father Pearson, who could not kneel on account of his rheumatism, witnessed this occurrence. When I revived sufficiently to see and hear, he rose from his chair, and said: 'I have seen a sight such as I never expected to see. A ball of fire came down from heaven, and struck Sister Ellen Harmon right on the heart. I saw it! I saw it! I can never forget it. It has changed my whole being. Sister Ellen, have courage in the Lord. After this night I will never doubt again. We will help you henceforth, and not discourage you. -- Life Sketches, p.71.

To her prayer that she might not yield to exaltation, the Lord promised her that her prayer would be answered by physical affliction that would make her realize her dependence upon God. In this way He would preserve her humility. Her responsibility was to deliver faithfully each message given to her and to endure unto the end. At her very next meeting God fulfilled in a remarkable way His promise to be with her. Her voice and lungs had been so feeble that for three months she had not been able to speak above a whisper. In this instance after slowly beginning to speak, her voice changed from one of a hoarse whisper to one clear and strong, and remained this way for the duration of her testimony, which was two hours.

At a meeting at Orrington, Ellen met Elder James White, who himself was engaged in working for the salvation of souls. Little did she know then that Elder White was later to become her companion for life in the work of the gospel and to be one of the mainstays of the Advent Movement in its organizational development. Her itinerary took her to other places, including Topsham, Maine, where occurred some remarkable answers to prayer for healing of some of the believers. Fanaticism of various kinds had broken out here and there among the believers, and it was the privilege of God's messenger to bear a positive testimony against these disturbers of the little groups of believers who were meeting for mutual comfort and encouragement.

It was not without many marked evidences of God's leading that Ellen Harmon came to a full trust in her appointment as Heaven's messenger to the Advent Movement. One morning at family prayers the power of God came upon her in such an overwhelming way that she thought it was mesmerism, the satanic delusion so popular in those days. In resisting this power she was struck dumb as a rebuke for her unbelief. For almost twenty-four hours she could not speak. But in a vision given her at that time an angel held a card before her on which were written fifty texts of Scripture. After coming out of vision she beckoned for a slate and wrote on it that she was dumb and that she wished the large Bible. She took the Bible and readily turned to all the texts she had been shown. These texts are on record in Early Writings, pages 24-31. Recovering her speech the next morning, she gave a ringing testimony of praise to God for His love and power.

On a visit to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1846, Ellen Harmon met Joseph Bates, who was then in the midst of active labor for the Advent cause. He was deeply impressed with the testimony Ellen gave, but caution made him wonder whether the remarkable revelations she described were of God. Bates was keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath at that time, and she felt that he was overzealous in dwelling more upon the fourth commandment than on the other nine. A vision given to her at that time, however, disclosed the sanctuary in heaven, in which stood two angels with their wings spread over the mercy seat of the ark, in which she was shown the tables of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments. A soft halo of light surrounded the fourth commandment. An angel explained that it was the only one of the ten great precepts that identified God as the creator. Along with Elder Bates and a small nucleus of believers she became a Sabbath-keeping Adventist.

On August 30, 1846, Ellen Harmon was married to James White, and from that time on her writings were all signed "Ellen G. White." Her books and periodical articles have borne either that name or Mrs. E. G. White as author. To the church at large she has been more affectionately known as Sister White.

The caution with which Elder Bates at first regarded the visions of Mrs. White gave way to full faith in their divine origin, and he and the Whites joined together in earnest evangelistic labors, promoting the truths that had come out of the deep study and prayer of those who clung to their faith after the Disappointment. The early meetings were often held in commodious barns or in the homes of believers. These early workers endured the disciplines of poverty, their meager income wrested from odd jobs that paid pitifully low wages as judged by our modern standards. Elder White hauled stone on the railroad or swung a scythe in the hayfields to meet their barest necessities. Fifty cents a day was common remuneration for such work. There was no money for travel, and only when small sums were given to them by some of the more prosperous believers were they able to meet the appointments that were made for them in various New England communities.

Their first son, Henry Nichols White, was born in the fall of 1847. The Whites began housekeeping in a part of the dwelling of Brother and Sister Howland of Gorham, Maine. They had only borrowed furniture, and that of the most humble kind. Two planks across the top of a barrel served as a table. Even the dishes they used had been loaned to them. Sometimes a decision had to be made between extra milk for the baby and calico to provide him a garment. But though hardship and occasional discouragement marked their experience, they would have wonderful seasons of rejoicing when in some special way God would bless their efforts and answer their prayers in signal ways.

At a meeting in Dorchester, Massachusetts, November, 1848, a vision of the sealing message and its proclamation was given this humble messenger of God, and instructions were given to her how it was to be accomplished. "I have a message for you," she said to her husband. "You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first." She was shown that out of that small beginning the message would be taken like streams of light that would band the earth.

It was a day of rejoicing when the first edition of the first paper, The Present Truth, was brought home from Middletown, Connecticut, where it had been published. The precious pile of a thousand papers was brought into the house and laid upon the floor. Here a little group of interested ones gathered around and knelt in prayer for God's blessing to rest on these printed messages of truth as they were sent forth on their mission of evangelism. They were then wrapped, addressed, and put into a carpetbag, which James White carried on foot to the nearest post office eight miles away. It was the beginning of a denominational publishing work that was to grow and extend until nearly fifty publishing houses throughout the world would be sending forth each year literature valued at millions of dollars.

On July 28, 1849, James Edson was born, the second son of Elder and Mrs. White. When he was only six weeks old, in answer to what she was impressed was the call of duty, the mother took the child and started on a four-month journey of labor among the believers in the New England States and New York. With her husband she traveled by private carriage, train, or canalboat, all their possessions, bits of furniture, clothing, books, and personal belongings in a three-foot trunk. It was while they were on this trip that the brethren in Vermont made up a purse of $175 and bought a horse and buggy for the couple. Three horses were brought for them to choose from, but the choice was not difficult, for Mrs. White bad been shown in a vision the night before which animal would be best. The beautiful dappled chestnut horse they selected was given the name Old Charley, and for years served the family in their moving from place to place. The covered buggy and fine horse brought against them the criticism of a few who charged them with extravagance, but this conveyance so willingly and generously provided them enabled them to do some of their most effective service for the Lord.

Many requests had come for copies of Ellen White's visions in some permanent form. In response to this call she prepared a volume of sixty-four pages entitled A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White. This volume now makes up a part of the book Early Writings. With this humble beginning, about fifty volumes, many of them of considerable size, came from her pen while she was alive. Since then, other volumes have been prepared, compilations from her total writings of material dealing with special fields of interest.

All through her diary of those early days mention is made time and again of discouragements and setbacks through illness or other untoward circumstances that led this servant of the Lord to seek spiritual recovery in prayer and devotion. Trials seemed to beset them on every hand, but in her usual optimistic way she would make note of the fact that "the watchful eye of the Lord was upon us, to see that we were not destroyed."

In 1852 the first Seventh-day Adventist publishing house was established, at Rochester, New York, but in 1855 the brethren decided to move the Review from Rochester to Battle Creek, Michigan. Elder and Mrs. White accompanied the little group in this move, and Mrs. White wrote: "I feel thankful that I can now have my children with me under my own watch-care, and can better train them in the right way." Their third son, William Clarence, had been born the year before.

At the conference held in Battle Creek in November, 1855, Joseph Bates, J. H. Waggoner, and M. E. Cornell were appointed to address the conference on the gifts of the church. This address, printed in the Review shortly afterward, was the first official pronouncement through the Review acknowledging the visions of Mrs. White as being of God, and making Biblical defense of the gift of prophecy as a manifestation that would be found in the remnant church. During these formative days questions arose that divided the believers, such, for instance, as the time for beginning the Sabbath each week. At a prayer meeting asking for guidance in their problems, Mrs. White was shown that the sunset time is the natural mark for the beginning and ending of the Sabbath in accordance with Leviticus 23:32, "From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." So it was that in times of crisis this valuable counsel from heaven would straighten out the confusion, and the believers would press together in unity.

In December, 1856, while at Round Grove, Illinois, Mrs. White was shown in vision that the little group at Waukon, Iowa, had "become drunk with the spirit of the world." In view of this, she asked two of the brethren to drive her and Mr. White to Waukon. This was a drive of two hundred miles in an open sleigh in severe winter weather. On the way a storm ensued and so blocked the roads with snowdrifts that they were obliged to wait day after day for nearly a week before completing their journey.

As they continued on their journey they were able to make but slow progress, for often they were obliged to stop and dig their way through deep snowdrifts. Just before they reached the Mississippi River, rain began to fall, and when they came to that great river, the dangerous ice was soft, and was covered with about a foot of water. Their inquiries as to the safety of a crossing brought no encouragement. A sense of the danger gripped the little party, but their faith held firm. We are told:

"Brother Hart arose in the sleigh and said, 'Is it Iowa, or back to Illinois? We have come to the Red Sea; shall we cross?'

"We answered, 'Go forward, trusting in Israel's God.

"We ventured upon the ice, praying as we went, and were carried safely across. As we ascended the bank on the Iowa side of the river, we united in praising the Lord."

They were later told by many persons that no amount of money would have tempted them to undertake such a perilous crossing, for several teams had broken through, and the drivers had barely escaped with their lives.

That Friday night the party stayed at a hotel and remained over Sabbath. In the evening the little party sang some Adventist hymns, and as the boarders congregated to listen, Elon Everts hung up the chart and gave a lecture. They were invited to stop on their return and were promised that a meetinghouse would be provided.

On Sunday the party continued on through bitter cold weather. The men would watch each other's faces to see if they were freezing. Suddenly, when the tell-tale white began to spread, one would cry, "Your nose is freezing! Rub snow on it!" The hardships of the latter part of this journey were portrayed in a letter that Mrs. White wrote to her children from Volney, Iowa, the last day of their journey, the day before Christmas, 1856:

"Here we are fourteen miles this side of Waukon. We are all quite well. Have had rather a tedious time getting thus far. Yesterday for miles there was no track. Our horses had to plow through snow, very deep, but on we came.

"O such fare as we have had on this journey. Last Monday we could get no decent food, and tasted not a morsel with the exception of a small apple from morn until night. We have most of the time kept very comfortable, but it is the bitterest cold weather we ever experienced.

"We introduce our faith at every hotel we enter, and have some two or three invitations to hold meetings on our return. . . . There seems to be interest awakened at every place we stop. We think we shall have some meetings in this place next first day.

"O how thankful shall I be to see home, sweet home, again, and my dear little boys, Henry, Edson, and Willie. . . . Children, be thankful for your comfortable home. We often suffer with cold, and cannot keep warm even sitting before the stove. Their houses are so cold and your mother suffers with cold in her head and teeth all the time.

"Last night we slept in an unfinished chamber where there was an opening for the stovepipe, running through the top of the house, -- a large space, big enough for a couple of cats to jump out of."

They finally reached Waukon after many days of hardship, which can hardly be imagined in a day of closed cars and automobile heaters. The work was well received by the brethren, and soon the party was on its long journey back to Illinois.

The provisions for caring for visitors at the general conference of believers in the autumn of 1857 give an insight into the primitive conditions at this period of the Advent message. James White, in making the announcement of the conference, said:

"We will feed with hay as many horses as we can put in our barns. We will lodge as many as we can provide beds for, then give up our floors, and barn chambers to those brethren who can best endure such lodgings. Those who can, will do well to bring provisions, buffalo robes, or bedclothes, so that they can lodge in the old meetinghouse. Come along, brethren and sisters. Bring what you can, and we will do what we can for you."

He also asked them to bring an offering to help pay for the new church at Battle Creek:

"These are hard times, brethren, but come prepared to do something as the Lord hath prospered. We will take gold, silver, good bills, wheat, corn, oats, butter, cheese, deerskins, or good promises of help soon. You who felt badly over our scanty invitation to come to conference last spring on account of the small size of our place of worship, come and meet with us."

In 1857 some of the brethren helped James White financially to build a six-room house of his own, some contributing money and many giving their labor. How happy Mrs. White must have been in this first real home of her own -- a new house with a garden and flowers. After her husband had left for the office in the morning she loved to spend half an hour in her flower garden. She encouraged her children to work with her. She then spent the remaining hours before noon in writing. In the afternoon her garden, sewing, mending, knitting, darning, and other duties of the house mother engaged her time. This routine was occasionally broken by trips to town or visits to the neighbors.

That Satan often afflicted this faithful servant of the Lord is clear from many instances throughout her life. A typical case of this kind happened at Jackson, Michigan, in 1858. While she was conversing, her tongue seemed to get large and numb, and she could not utter a word. A strange sensation struck her heart, passed over her head, and down her right side. This was the third stroke of paralysis she had suffered, and she fully expected to lay down her life at this time. The brethren prayed for her, and a prickling sensation came into her legs until she could use them a little. For some weeks thereafter she could not feel the pressure of the hand or the coldest water poured upon her head.

And yet, feeling the call of duty, she gathered paper and pen and began under the greatest difficulties to write The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, the first of the volumes in the series of Spiritual Gifts, and what is now the last portion of Early Writings. At first she could write but one page in a day, and then was compelled to rest three days. Her mind did not seem to be clouded, however, and she continued to write. By the time the 219-page book was written, her ailment had entirely left her.

A diary that was kept during 1859 gives an insight into her everyday life. Her visits were many, but she did not make calls simply to visit, but to have spiritual communion with other children of God. She was especially interested in visiting the sick and the poor. Her diary reveals the openheartedness of the White family in connection with a certain poor family. Mrs. White bought a pair of shoes for the mother and helped buy a pair for the little boy. Mr. White gave the family a dollar in cash. Each of the White children gave a dime, and then Mr. White gave a quarter to buy a dish of something extra for the invalid in the family. The family gave some half-worn clothing, and the mother put up grape and currant juice for the invalid and also sent some dried apples. Again the little diary tells the secret of a trip to the city to buy a little dress for the child of a poor family.

In the autumn of 1860 the question of organization came up. James White wrote suggesting for the organization the name Church of God. A council meeting in September decided, however, to call the church "Seventh-day Adventists" and recommended that the churches everywhere choose that name. Although the name was chosen by majority vote, some felt that a mistake had been made. Others felt it was wrong to organize at all, and a division threatened. At that time a vision was given to Mrs. White approving organization and the name selected. Thus another crisis passed.

Mrs. White received her first vision with regard to health reform in June, 1863. Although she was not the first to advocate these health principles -- Joseph Bates had adhered to them for twenty years -- this was the beginning of their widespread adoption. She published her first writings on this subject in 1864.

She received further instruction on this in 1865. The next year land with a residence on it was purchased, and the first Seventh-day Adventist medical institution was opened at Battle Creek. It was known as the Western Health Reform Institute. This later developed into the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The word "sanitarium" was invented by Dr. J. H. Kellogg, and the institution became one of the most famous in America.

The decade of the seventies Mrs. White devoted to traveling with her husband, visiting churches, conferences, and camp meetings. Making the round of the camp meetings became a very tiresome and trying task, and almost wore the couple completely out. Even while on the trips Mrs. White never ceased her writing. One is astonished at her capacity for work even under the most unpropitious circumstances.

During the years 1885-87 Mrs. White visited Europe, laboring in England, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. She made her headquarters at Basel, Switzerland, and made frequent journeys to the various European countries. She went to the Scandinavian countries three times, and in June, 1887, attended the first camp meeting ever held in Europe, at Moss, Norway. She visited Italy three times also.

Back in the United States she traveled and wrote. At the General Conference of 1891 S. N. Haskell made an appeal for Australia and urged that Mrs. White and her son, W. C. White, visit the field, and among other interests assist in establishing a Christian school. In response they sailed from San Francisco, November 12, 1891.

The Australasian Bible School was opened in August, 1892. On the occasion of the opening, Mrs. White was one of the speakers. Here she spoke of a work to develop far beyond their expectation, making the statement, startling indeed at that time:

"The same work must be accomplished in Australia, New Zealand, in Africa, India, China, and the islands of the sea, as has been accomplished in the home field."

A committee was appointed to search for a suitable location for the kind of school that had been called for in the instruction given regarding Christian education. Among other properties, Cooranbong, in New South Wales, was visited. The committee were hesitant about the value of the land for agricultural purposes, but under the guidance of definite counsel received through Mrs. White, the property was secured and the school opened. She herself bought a tract of land on the estate, and built a home, which she called Sunnyside. She lived there from 1895 to 1900, and witnessed the clearing of the land, the erection of buildings, and the coming into fruitful bearing of farm and orchard. During this time her molding influence on the school was powerfully felt.

She urged in 1903 the removal of the headquarters of the denomination from Battle Creek to some point on the Atlantic coast, and by letters to the committee who were seeking a suitable location, she guided in the search, until they were led to Takoma Park, Washington, D.C. She spent the summer of 1904 in that place, and encouraged the leaders and the workmen as the foundations were laid for conference and institutional work.

It was directly through her counsel that the Loma Linda Sanitarium was secured, and here also was later developed a first-class medical school for the training of Christian physicians to serve the world field. In 1909 the College of Medical Evangelists was founded, and it has indeed confirmed her forecasts given when their fulfillment seemed humanly impossible.

In 1909, at the age of eighty-one, Mrs. White made her last extensive speaking tour. She left Elmshaven, her California home, in the spring and journeyed to the quadrennial session of the General Conference, which convened in Washington, D.C. On the way to and from the General Conference she traveled more than eight thousand miles during five months' time and spoke to seventy-two audiences. This shows something of the energy and the sheer enthusiasm of this tenacious worker for God.

The last few years of her life were spent in preparing manuscript for the press. She spent her last efforts on completing the Conflict of the Ages Series. The last volume, Prophets and Kings, lacked only two chapters of completion in 1915 when her labors were closed. These chapters were completed from material from her manuscript file.

On February 13, 1915, she tripped and fell, breaking her thigh bone. Fortunately, she did not suffer much pain, but at her age, recovery would have been miraculous. Gradually she became weaker and weaker. Her last days were spent in bed, sitting in a chair in her writing room, or at times in her wheel chair on her rose-covered veranda, which commanded a view of fine orchards and vineyards, of beautiful valleys and hills.

For a few days prior to her death she was unconscious much of the time, and finally she fell asleep quietly and peacefully July 16, 1915, at Elmshaven. Her last words spoken to her son were: "I know in whom I have believed." She was taken to Battle Creek and buried by the side of her husband, who had preceded her in death a third of a century.

The place of Mrs. White in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is unique. At first she kept in the background, traveling with her husband, offering her testimony against error, and encouraging the scattered believers. Her place was that of one who is the dynamic power behind the leaders. When discouragement seized her husband, time and time again by divine direction she stepped in and kept him at his task. When division threatened the cause of God, she brought the inspired message, which was accepted and which wrought peace and harmony. Time and time again she was used as a chosen instrument in the hand of God to direct His people.

Back to Top